The Concept of San Satsu Ho
And its Relationship to Mittsu no Sen
By: Robert D. Stroud
April 10, 2005 for fullfillment of the written portion of the shinsa requirements for the rank of kendo 7 Dan.
For this discussion San Satsu Ho will be explained, followed by Mittsu no Sen, and finally how the two concepts can be related and used during kendo keiko.
What is San Satsu Ho?
Properly pronounce as San Sappou, the three Japanese kanji characters 三殺法 can also be read individually as San Satsu Ho. Literally, San = Three, Satsu = Killing, and Hou = Method. This concept is one of the most well-known and often discussed principles of kendo. In fact San Sappou, kill the Ki, kill the Katana, and kill the Waza is famous as the Gokui Fundamental Principles of Itto-Ryu swordsmanship.
The term Kujiki 挫きmeans to sprain or break, as in ashi wo kujiki, to sprain or break the foot. In Hokushin Itto Ryu, kujiki is used to describe this concept as the Mittsu no Kujiki 三つの挫き、which has the same intended meaning as San Sappou. Chiba Shusaku wrote an article about the three kujiki concept, wherein he discussed them as Tachi wo Koroshi 太刀を殺し “kill the sword,” Waza wo Koroshi 業を殺し “kill the technique”, and Ki wo Koroshi 気を殺し“kill the spirit”.
Note: Satsu and Koroshi are two different pronunciations for the same kanji, “to kill”
In the “San Sappou” section of his book “Kendo” Takano Sasaburo Hanshi, a student of Nakanishi Itto Ryu, wrote Teki wo Kujiku ni Sanpou ari, “There are three ways to “Kujiku” (Break/Kill) your opponent”. In his discussion of San Sappou, he uses Satsu and Kujiku interchangeably. The three kujiku concepts are as follows:
- Ken wo Korosu. 剣を殺す Kill the opponents sword. 相手の剣を押さえ自由を奪い技を出せない様にする。 You control the opponent’s (相手 aite) sword and take away his ability to use his sword technique against you. By killing the aite’s sword you remove the very source of his ability to attack you. Without the use of his sword aite can neither attack nor defend. Aite’s sword is controlled by pushing it side-to-side, or by using a technique like harai otoshi, to knock it out of the way, which prevents him from using it.
- Waza wo Korosu. 技を殺す Kill the opponents technique. 常に先を取り攻めたて技を仕掛け相手の技を封じる。 Prevent the aite’s use of his waza (技 technique) by constantly checking him before he is able to settle down and able to execute an attack or trick. To kill aite’s waza means to make him unable to use his waza by forcing him to concentrate on blocking or evading by the use of attacks, hits and pushing sharply. In order to properly press aite in this way, you must also attack without paying attention to how successful your hits and strike are made, rather you press fully forward, mentally with strong conviction and clear intent, and physically with strong body motion and tai atari (body hitting), without stopping.
- Ki wo Korosu. 気を殺す Kill the opponents spirit. 相手は当方の気力に恐れ心の自由を失い技も出なく隙も生じその気の乱れた処を攻めて勝つ事をいう。
Because of your strong willpower and energy the aite becomes anxious and his doubt prevents him from attacking, and his confusion allows you to defeat him. A strong dignified attitude and the use of a dominating conviction to attack cause the aite to question his ability to defeat you. In order to do this correctly one must practice continuously so that they can calmly demonstrate better timing, skill, and confidence in the mind of their opponent.
What is Mittsu no Sen?
Sen 先 is defined as “previous, proceed, lead, tip”. In kendo it is used to discuss methods of dealings with the opponent’s actions. The word “lead” comes very close to the kendo use of Sen, as in a boxer “leading with his right and countering with his left”.
Mittsu no Sen 三つの先 is a complete set of “sen” covering the various situations an opponent may present. In relation to the opponent there are before, during, and after “sen”. They are called Sen Sen no Sen, Sen, and Go no Sen, this is also from the Itto Ryu school of swordsmanship.
The first, Sen Sen no Sen, 先々の先, is the before Sen. This is the situation where the opponent is about to move and an attack is made before he initiates his motion. This is controlling aite before he can attack. This is also referred to as Kakari no Sen, 懸の先, in the Fire scroll of Musashi’s Go Rin no Sho, Book of Five Rings. In the Thomas Cleary translation he refers to this as the first preemption. Preemption from a state of suspension. You remain calm and quiet, and then get ahead of aite’s timing by attacking suddenly and quickly.
The next Sen 先、 is also called Sen no Sen, 先の先. This is used when aite is in mid-attack. You join in with the attack he has already started, gain control, and deliver a counter attack to aite. This concept from Itto Ryu, is also called Sen Zen no Sen 先前の先.
The third concept of the Mittsu no Sen, is Go no Sen, 後の先. This is to receive an attack and counter it. This is the situation after the aite has already committed his body and mind to his attack, but it is not yet at the point where he has finished. Musashi called this Tai no Sen, 待の先, or “waiting sen”. Others use the term Sen Go no Sen, 先後の先, for this situation. In the Cleary translation of Go Rin no Sho, he calls it “preemption from a state of waiting”. He makes two points regarding Tai no Sen. First, when aite comes at you, don’t react but appear weak, then as he nears, attack strongly. He also writes, “. . . meet his attack, when you sense a change in his rhythm, you can gain victory”.
Musashi also wrote about Tai Tai no Sen, 体々の先 (body kind of sen). This is the preemption in a state of mutual confrontation. This author sees a similarity between Tai Tai no Sen, and Sen no Sen, but cannot find enough support for this in the limited English literature available on the topic. Both are related to a simultaneous situation so it appears they are very close in meaning, if not in fact the same. Takano Sasaburo Hanshi, does state that for Itto Ryu, the same 3 Sen exist, after explaining Kakari no Sen, Tai no Sen, and Tai Tai no Sen.
How does San Sappou relate to Mittsu no Sen?
It is easily understood by even the most inexperience student of kendo that when you have a match each new opponent provides a different situation. Therefore the starting place for every match with aite is to start from a place of flexible readiness. Although a strong spirit & mindset, strong technical skill, and physical ability are all needed to defeat aite, they cannot be uniformly applied to all situations. Much depends upon how you create the relationship with your opponent.
As you enter into a match it is important to do so with a resolve, but before you decide how to approach each opponent you need to understand how your abilities can be use with a particular aite. For an aite who powerful and fast will require a different approach to one who is soft and holding back. At the start of a match, at the point of mutual rei (bowing) your mind must focus on how aite presents himself. From you, he should see a steely resolve and strong conviction for success. But he should not see overconfidence. In many ways the concept of Mu Shin 無心, empty mind will allow you to properly respond for a given aite.
In the match, starting from Mu Shin, you will want to have the ability to apply all three Satsu, the San Sappou, to kill his sword, his spirit, and his technique using all three chances or timing provided by the Three Sen, or Mittsu no Sen. Exactly how depends upon how the match unfolds. By training properly and having a complete set of skills available to oneself and the confidence to deliver them against aite, success will come as the match progresses. Difficulty will present itself if one forces the timing or the approach to beat aite. A steady and clear readiness out of the Mu Shin mindset will allow for a strong and clear path to defeating aite.
Many examples can be suggested as to how this might happen in various matches. If your opponent is weak and slow delivering his attack, it can be seen that Sen Sen no Sen timing could be used effectively with Ki wo Kurosu, but for the same situation an aite with a strong attack but slow timing would indicate the need for more use of Ken wo Kurosu. To apply a recipe to this interaction is too mechanical and artificial to properly describe the relationship between the ways you attack your opponent and when you do it.
However, the purpose of this paper is to describe how these concepts relate so it is useful to outline example situations and what happens. The three San Sappou are all used to beat each aite, but they are emphasized more or less depending upon the requirements of that match.
In Sen Sen no Sen, you essentially beat your opponent to the attack. This situation would require that you are pressing aite with your strong mind, putting mental pressure on him, and then using Ken wo Kurosu to move his sword out of your attacking path, or Waza wo Kurosu to destroy his attack before it starts, perhaps with something as straight forward as Nidan or Sandan Renzoku Waza, multiple hits.
In the Sen situation, there is a need to attack at the same time as the aite’s attack yet finish first. One situation to consider would be to use Ken wo Kurosu by striking strongly to his Men as aite attempts to strike your Men. Because you have a strong hit and break through his sword you kill his sword and his attack. The very attack by aite becomes your chance to score a valid strike.
The last situation, Go no Sen, present a lot of opportunity for the use of the three Kujiki. In this timing, you have no need to rush or exceed the timing by aite rather your strong kamae, ready posture, and mental attitude provide you with time to deal with what aite does. Because you are ready to hit and the aite senses it he cannot easily attack, this is using your ki to kill his ki (Ki wo Kurosu). When he does attack you meet it with kaeshi, suriage, nuki, or uchi otoshi waza to kill his sword, Ken wo Kurosu, then without stop your motion the waza you have used against aite becomes the attack that defeats him. You have killed his waza (Waza wo Kurosu).
In summation, it should be noted that during any match there would always be a combination of timings, and methods used to defeat the opponent. The relationship between yourself and aite determines exactly how you apply these concepts, and only through focused and consistent training can a kendo student make these concepts a part of himself, useful for all situations and all types of opponents.
